2022-09-03, 09:26 PM - Word count:
I'm tired from a soccer doubleheader and my team lost both games so no PP this week. What it would have been this week was to explain geometric relativity from a sporting philosophy point of view. This requires pictures. This requires expressing shapes arrows circles and x's. This will come next week. A quick preview is that it involves Basketball. Believe it or not Barcelona has a very successful basketball program. Being from the state of hockey I'll get to hockey's influence on modern soccer at some point.
This week I'm going to talk about the two main responses a team can have to a press. Now pressing is the most important concept to address in your tactical thinking. How your team presses will decide what you will do in every phase of the game. This isn't the sexy part of the game but is extremely important. The team that wins the pressing game most often wins, or at least doesn't lose.
The two ways to deal with the press is to either stretch the press or attempt to break the press. Both have risks that can lead directly to goals. Stretching the press can be less direct risk but can also fail to use what possession you get leading to a lack of chance creation. Attempting to break the press outright can lead to lots of chances, or the neutering of the press entirely. Failing to break the press, however, falls directly into the trap that the press is based on. resulting in a rapid transition or "just" giving over possession cheaply.
Easier to grasp examples however are very prevalent. It has been shown over the generations by the fear and loathing in la liga, inspired from when football was defined between scotsmen and englishmen. Real madrid has in their history played a counter-attacking style of play, and Barcalona have played in the possession style of play. What the money you get by being the favored club of the nation's dictator for a few decades is players that are both the fastest on the pitch but also the ones that can exploit such attacking speed. Barcelona have relied on a system of play that demands a level of passing beyond every other team in the world. Most teams aren't defined by different ethnic groups and their hostilities against each other.
So you need to either have players going forward in space to, or have the ability to, win the ball away from where the other team is attempting to press. The inherent aspect of Pressing is to shrink the field by concentrating your players nearest to the ball. By moving the ball into a different spot on the field you've brought the other team out of position. Simple concept yes but in execution its very difficult. Long passes are inaccurate passes, long passes take time while the ball is in the air. Both leave the other team the opportunity to take the ball from you. Not every team has the players who are good enough to beat anyone in the world in the air. Barca's possession style is extremely complex in concept but in execution, it is very easy. Pressing requires the expenditure of energy. Having your players move to the enemy requires them to move and thus to run. Possession relies on this simple truth, force the other team to run and at some point, the other team won't be able to run anymore. Yes when you have the ball the other team cannot score with the ball, but the other team must press you or you will be able to pass the ball around them until you can score easy goals from dangerous places.
This doesn't mean that you just follow English style sit-back-absorb-counter. Sir Alex Ferguson is old and everything about his style is past. Gengen pressing takes both of these concepts and melds them together with German efficiency. Heavy pressing, direct play, constant intensity. This can win games but well... Jose has won more titles, pep has won more titles, Klopp has been given the keys to an empire and yet can't get back to the promised land.
This week I'm going to talk about the two main responses a team can have to a press. Now pressing is the most important concept to address in your tactical thinking. How your team presses will decide what you will do in every phase of the game. This isn't the sexy part of the game but is extremely important. The team that wins the pressing game most often wins, or at least doesn't lose.
The two ways to deal with the press is to either stretch the press or attempt to break the press. Both have risks that can lead directly to goals. Stretching the press can be less direct risk but can also fail to use what possession you get leading to a lack of chance creation. Attempting to break the press outright can lead to lots of chances, or the neutering of the press entirely. Failing to break the press, however, falls directly into the trap that the press is based on. resulting in a rapid transition or "just" giving over possession cheaply.
Easier to grasp examples however are very prevalent. It has been shown over the generations by the fear and loathing in la liga, inspired from when football was defined between scotsmen and englishmen. Real madrid has in their history played a counter-attacking style of play, and Barcalona have played in the possession style of play. What the money you get by being the favored club of the nation's dictator for a few decades is players that are both the fastest on the pitch but also the ones that can exploit such attacking speed. Barcelona have relied on a system of play that demands a level of passing beyond every other team in the world. Most teams aren't defined by different ethnic groups and their hostilities against each other.
So you need to either have players going forward in space to, or have the ability to, win the ball away from where the other team is attempting to press. The inherent aspect of Pressing is to shrink the field by concentrating your players nearest to the ball. By moving the ball into a different spot on the field you've brought the other team out of position. Simple concept yes but in execution its very difficult. Long passes are inaccurate passes, long passes take time while the ball is in the air. Both leave the other team the opportunity to take the ball from you. Not every team has the players who are good enough to beat anyone in the world in the air. Barca's possession style is extremely complex in concept but in execution, it is very easy. Pressing requires the expenditure of energy. Having your players move to the enemy requires them to move and thus to run. Possession relies on this simple truth, force the other team to run and at some point, the other team won't be able to run anymore. Yes when you have the ball the other team cannot score with the ball, but the other team must press you or you will be able to pass the ball around them until you can score easy goals from dangerous places.
This doesn't mean that you just follow English style sit-back-absorb-counter. Sir Alex Ferguson is old and everything about his style is past. Gengen pressing takes both of these concepts and melds them together with German efficiency. Heavy pressing, direct play, constant intensity. This can win games but well... Jose has won more titles, pep has won more titles, Klopp has been given the keys to an empire and yet can't get back to the promised land.
